The championship leader suffered an off-throttle rear-end crash at the Vale left-hander in the opening stages of FP2 while he evaluating the hard rear tyre, which he says was “a total disaster” for the conditions.
He took a hefty whack from his Yamaha and hurt his ankle, initially needing help from a marshal to walk away.
However, Quartararo was soon able to rejoin the session and went on to dominate FP2, ending the day fastest of all by over half a second with a 1m59.317s lap.
“Yes, I twisted my ankle, sprained it,” he said when asked by Autosport to explain his crash.
“But everything is fine, when I’m on the bike I have no pain and this is the most important thing.
“I was with the hard rear tyre, it was a total disaster for this condition, that I nearly crashed a few times before and Turn 8 was the corner I crashed.
“But, anyway I was feeling quite OK and it was good for us after the crash to make great laps on the medium tyres.
“I was feeling fast, I wasn’t really on the limit and to be able to make like 2m00.1s was positive, so I’m feeling great.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
When asked if he felt lucky that he never got thrown into the air in the incident, Quartararo added: “I think I lost the bike at the correct moment because if it had been a high-side, I would have been higher and [it would have been] more painful.
“So, it can always be worse. So, we are really lucky today, and it’s not because I had this crash that I will ride more safe.
“I think everybody saw after the crash I just went for it and had zero corrections.
“So, it could have been worse, could have been better but really lucky to not have a serious injury.”
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Quartararo admits his decision to try the hard rear tire in the cooler conditions was “a bit risky”, but was keen to continue working in a “normal” way despite his championship situation.
“I will wish good luck to my foot before every session,” he joked.
“But it’s part of the game. I wasn’t really on the limit because it was a mistake for us to try the hard tire on those conditions.
“But for us it wasn’t bad, and I think it was a bit risky. But that’s what I wanted to do, I just want it to be like a normal weekend, try a little bit more to see the performance.
“But I feel like it will be normal tomorrow, a bit sore. But it’s part of the game.”